This invention relates generally to skinning devices, and more particularly to a device for removing the skin from poultry pieces.
It is known in the art that there is a need for efficient and safe machines to process meats, and poultry in particular. U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,542 to Gasbarro, which is incorporated herein by reference, was a substantial advance in the technology relating to the skinning of poultry using machinery. This patent teaches a device that avoids the danger to humans of hand-skinning, and provides continuous, consistent results.
In the '542 patent, an apparatus for skinning pieces of poultry product is illustrated and described. FIG. 4 of that patent shows a conventional endless belt conveyor 31 employed to load product and carry it to the feed inlet 28 where it is delivered to a skinning station. The belt 40 is mounted on a support block 64 and is driven by a motor to rotate in a clockwise direction. The support block 64 is mounted to the cabinet sidewall 26 in a vertically movable relationship, thereby permitting the gap between the lower run of the belt 40 and the gripper 42 to automatically adjust to the size of poultry sections received therebetween. This can be accomplished, for example, by a pivot at the leftward end of the support block 64 about which the support block 64 pivots, or a plurality of vertical bearing rods extending through the support block 64, permitting vertical movement. The driven shaft 58 forms a pivot axis for the support block 64. The weight of the support block 64 and its attached structures biases the block downwardly toward the gripper 42 at its rightward end as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, poultry sections placed by the conveyor 31 between the belt 40 and the gripper 42 cause the support block 64 to adjust upwardly to the size of the sections to be skinned, and yet maintains a substantially constant downward force on the poultry section during the skin removal operation.
The belt 40 transports pieces of poultry section entering the feed inlet 28 to the gripper 42, and over the gripper 42. The gripper 42 is rotatably mounted to the frame 20 and is driven by a conventional motor to rotate in a counterclockwise direction so that the top of the gripper 42 moves in the same direction as the lower run of the belt 40. The belt 40 and the gripper 42 cooperatively move the poultry sections toward the discharge outlet, and function in cooperation with the pinch block 44 to engage and pull the outer skin off the poultry sections.
Although the '542 patent teaches a machine with many advantages, further refinement of the conventional technology is desired, particularly with the accommodation of poultry piece sizes. Therefore, there is a need for an improved poultry skinning machine.